Daphne by Justine Picardie

I just finished this interesting book by the British author, Justine Picardie. Any bibliophile who loved reading Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca would find this an interesting read. Mapping out how I even found this novel shows me that even using the computer can incorporate the serendipitous discovery of gold among the dross. Looking for movies about Daphne du Maurier in the library catalog, I found one simply called Daphne, and that put me on the quest to find the book. This book is not the book in the film but some of the same events are alluded to. The author is imagining Daphne in 1950 as she tried to write her biography of Branwell Brontë, Charlotte and Emily's young brother. Ms. du Maurier is in contact with a former librarian who has access to some of the Brontë manuscripts. Letters between them have survived and make interesting reading. Superimposed on these two lives is the researcher in modern day with a obsessive fascination with Daphne du Maurier as she imagines her thesis and how to conduct the research. The author points out in the acknowledgements, "Like the contemporary narrator of my novel, I became utterly possessed by the story, and obsessed by the paper trail of Bronte manuscripts and what passed between Daphne du Maurier and John Alexander Symington; like her, I burrowed through the catacombs of library archives and second-hand bookshops to discover lost or forgotten letters..." This was an enjoyable, but disturbing novel, as we learn of some of Daphne du Marier's own demons. We also become acquainted with the tie between James Barrie and the du Maurier family. After reading this novel I am interested in her latest, Coco Chanel: the Legend and the Life, 2010.